Sai Prasad's Blog!!

Moving my Blog !!

2009-07-11T12:08:00.003+05:30

Hi !!

I'm writing this post after quite an amount of time, and I've a big news. I've got a domain for myself and found a place to host my site. I'm moving my blog to my new domain.

My New Domain is: http://www.saionline.co.in

The blog on my site (http://blog.saionline.co.in) is powered by the famous WordPress 2.8.1 as of now.

I've taken a bit of my time to import all my posts from here to my new blog. So, its a unified blog. [Even it has entries of my first blog, not blogger :)]

The site [not the blog] is still under construction. I've a few plans to have a Unified Chat, Forum, SMS Services, Bookmark Manager etc. for my site.

The main purpose of getting a domain for myself is I do not want to lose touch with Web Development & also enhance my skills on it. As I always love to work with multiple subdomains, I had to buy a domain for myself.

So, kindly update your bookmarks & feed readers to my new blog URL. Don't worry: It doesn't take more than a couple of minutes.

Have a nice day,
Sai Prasad

Is Mozilla Firefox more secure than Internet Explorer?

2009-05-31T11:51:00.005+05:30

Have you ever asked someone why does he/she prefer Mozilla Firefox over Microsoft Internet Explorer? If not, you ask yourself that question. And as I guess (or atleast the surveys say) that the most common answer is:

“Mozilla Firefox is secure, while Internet Explorer is not”

Even that was my opinion also. But well, things aren’t the same as thought about. I was just going through some vulnerability statistics in these browsers and the results laughed at me saying – “Welcome to the real world of security dude!!”
Let me give you some overall statistics on vulnerabilities in these applications.

Secunia Vulnerabilities:

Mozilla Firefox 3.x : 68 (11 highly, 1 less, 2 not critical, others unknown) – 0 unpatched

Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.x : 1 (1 less critical) – 1 unpatched

(Secunia is a leading Security Analyzing organization)

Even though the turnaround time for patches is comparatively much better in case of Firefox, the Internet Explorer has very few bugs (which are even not very critical).

Being a fan of Firefox myself, it was hard to believe the statistics. So I also checked the CVE (Common Vulnerabilities & Exposures) identifiers registered for both Firefox & IE. But even those showed me that Internet Explorer is safe, even safer than Firefox…

Well folks, the next time you ask someone to use Firefox instead of Internet Explorer, please find some other reason (instead of telling it is secure).

Things to remember for Android !!!

2009-05-03T20:09:00.004+05:30

android:layout_width and android:layout_height are compulsory for all nodes.
The outermost container should contain the attribute: xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"

Installing Android !!!

2009-04-30T23:01:00.008+05:30

Few steps for setting up things before developing applications for Android....

Download & Install JRE from http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp
Download & Extract Eclipse IDE for Java Developers from http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/
Download the latest version of Android SDK from http://developer.android.com/sdk/
Download ADT (Android Development Tools) from http://developer.android.com/sdk/adt_download.html
Start Eclipse, then select Help > Software Updates > Find and Install....
Select Archive and then browse to the downloaded ADT Zip file.
You should see the plugin listed by the URL, with "Developer Tools" nested within it. Select the checkbox next to Developer Tools and click Install...
On the subsequent Install window, "Android DDMS" and "Android Developer Tools" should both be checked. Click Next, then Finish. Restart Eclipse.
Select Window > Preferences... to open the Preferences panel (Mac: Eclipse > Preferences).
Select Android from the left panel.
For the SDK Location in the main panel, click Browse... and locate your downloaded SDK directory. Click Apply, then OK.
Now, lets install an AVD (Android Virtual Device). Navigate to
/tools in a command line and execute:
```
android create avd --name  --target 
```
Just press Enter when asked to create an hardware profile.

Now you are done with setup....... Happy developing with Android !!!
Start with Hello, World program in the documentation.

--

Sai Prasad

Quotes I like :: Vol. II

2008-09-20T07:23:00.000+05:30

Footprints on the sands of time aren't made by sitting down. - Proverb
Know how to listen & you'll profit even from those who talk badly. - Plutarch
Accept the challenges, so you may feel the exhilaration of victory. - GS Patton
If you want to succeed, you must make your own opportunities as you go. - John B. Gough
If a man wants his dreams to come true, he must wake up! - Anonymous
Blame yourself if you have no branches or leaves; don't accuse the sun for partiality - Chinese proverb
They conquer who believe they can. - John Dryden

Subdomains on localhost

2008-09-19T15:54:00.007+05:30

Intro
Developing websites on localhost may sometimes need making of sub domains. Installing and running another server for this purpose is useless, consumes more resources etc. So here is the technique to make sub domains on localhost.

You can also use this to host more than one site on localhost. i.e, you can host multiple sites situated on different folders.

PS: This is for Apache configuration.

Steps

First decide on the subdomain names...
for eg: sub.localhost, sub2.localhost, alt.localhost , images.localhost etc..
You can also name www.name.com. (Please note that if there is a site with that name on the net, you wont be able to access that site on the internet.)

Second making these sites to point to 127.0.0.1, for this you can edit the HOSTS file on windows. The HOSTS file found on Windows (and linux too) is like a local DNS (domain name server). When you type a url on the browsers address bar, the domain name is converted to the IP of the server by a DNS lookup by the browser. Now here is the catch ... Windows first looks at the HOSTS file before doing any DNS lookup. So we can block certain sites by editing the HOSTS file.

HOSTS file is found typically here ...

Windows XP : C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC
Windows 2K : C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC
Windows 98/ME : C:\WINDOWS

Linux : /etc/

The Lines followed by a # are comments and explains how to use the HOSTS file.127.0.0.1 is the IP address that is used to loopback to your computer itself.

Now add to HOSTS line
127.0.0.1 <hostname>
Egs:
127.0.0.1 sub.localhost
127.0.0.1 sub1.localhost
127.0.0.1 sub2.localhost
127.0.0.1 images.localhost
127.0.0.1 mysiteonmycomp.com
127.0.0.1 images.mysiteonmycomp.com

Next we have to assign each of these different URL's to different folders.
This is done on the apache conf file. (httpd.conf file situated in apache\conf\ directory).
Note that if you are using XAMPP, the virtual hosts file is at apache\conf\extra\httpd-vhosts.conf

Scroll all the way down the httpd.conf file until you reach about Virtual Hosts.
Add for each domain (or subdomain)

NameVirtualHost <sitename>:80

<virtualhost <sitename>:80>
ServerName <sitename>
DocumentRoot DocumentRoot-see example
DirectoryIndex index.php index.html index.html index.htm index.shtml
</VirtualHost>
You can also any valid extra parameters also (like ServerAdmin, ServerAlias etc.)

eg:

NameVirtualHost saiprasad.com:80
<virtualhost saiprasad.com:80>
ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
DocumentRoot "C:/xampp/htdocs/www"
ServerName saiprasad.com
ServerAlias www.saiprasad.com
</virtualhost>

NameVirtualHost test.saiprasad.com:80
<virtualhost test.saiprasad.com:80>
ServerAdmin webmaster@myjoomlasite.com
DocumentRoot "C:/xampp/htdocs/test"
ServerName test.saiprasad.com
</virtualhost>

NOTE : All the DocumentRoots must be under the DocumentRoot (i.e; must be a sub-directory) specified in httpd.confd.
For example, in XAMPP, the default DocumentRoot is "C:/xampp/htdocs". Therefore, the DocumentRoot of any virtual host cannot be given as : "C:/xampp/test". The folder must be under "C:/xampp/htdocs".

Microsoft can't explain!!

2008-08-30T15:39:00.004+05:30

Here are some of the bugs in the Microsoft software, which are commonly used. As far as I know, Microsoft did not give any explanation for the origin of these bugs.

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------

BUG #1
An Indian discovered that nobody can create a FOLDER anywhere on the computer which can be named as "CON". This is something pretty cool...and unbelievable. .. At Microsoft the whole Team, couldn't answer why this happened!

TRY IT NOW ,IT WILL NOT CREATE "CON" FOLDER

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------

BUG #2
For those of you using Windows, do the following:

Open an empty notepad file
Type "Bush hid the facts" (without the quotes)
Save it as whatever you want.
Close it, and re-open it.

is it just a really weird bug? Confused?

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------

BUG #3

This is something pretty cool and neat...and unbelievable. .. At Microsoft the whole Team, including Bill Gates, couldn't answer why this happened!

It was discovered by a Brazilian. Try it out yourself...

Open Microsoft Word and type

=rand (200, 99)

And then press ENTER

Parallel Programming Minor Test - I

2008-08-30T15:37:00.003+05:30

Date : 29.08.2008

Duration : 40 Minutes

Max. Marks : 10

1. Give a CREW PRAM algorithm to merge two sorted lists.

2. Define shuffle and exchange connections in a shuffle-exchange network. Prove that if a shuffle link connects nodes i and j, then j is single-bit left cyclic rotation of i.

3. What is the average number of communication links in the use during Johnsson and Ho's one-to-all broadcast algorithm on the hypercube?

Google visit to NIT Warangal

2008-08-30T14:56:00.008+05:30

Sub : For the selections of 1) Campus Ambassador, 2) Women in Engineering Award

Campus Ambassador :

Date : 4th September, 2008 2:00 PM IST
Venue : Conference Hall, NIT Warangal
Duration of Selection Process : 4 hours
Process :

Presentation on campus
Application + Resume Screening
Group Discussion.
Personal Interview

Ambassador Requirements :

3rd and 4th year students from Computer Science Stream only
CGPA of 7.5 and above
Involvement in various co-curricular activities on and off campus

Ambassador Responsibilities :

Serve as strategic link between the campus and Google India
Identify mutually beneficial sponsorship opportunities
Maintain open and regular communication with the student council and career placement cell; help enhance Google's visibility on campus

Women in Engineering Award :

The Google India Women in Engineering Award is aimed at recognizing and rewarding deserving women students in Computer Science, inspiring them to become active participants and leaders in the field of technology.

The award will be given to deserving students based on demonstrated leadership, academic excellence and thought. A group of female bachelor's, master's and Ph.D student finalists will be chosen from the applicant pool. The award recipients will each receive a sum of INR 75,000.

Eligibility criteria for the award :
Candidates must -

be enrolled as full time students in a recognized university.
maintain a CGPA of at least 8.00
be enrolled in 2nd, 3rd or final year if applying during their bachelor's degree, 1st or 2nd year if applying when pursuing a master's degree, or be PhD students in a related field.

Duration : 1 hour for the presentation

NOTE : Eligible and interested students are requested to submit the hard copies of the resumes to the T & P office on or before 2nd September, 2008.

Got the 'App'titude Challenge from Google, India

2008-08-27T01:37:00.005+05:30

Google India and Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi has come forward with "Got the 'App'titude Challenge". This unique, first time effort is looking for student, faculty and alumni leaders to implement Google Apps within their respective campuses, with the objective of providing access to powerful communication methods, and improving collaboration capabilities through tools like Gmail, shareable calendars, online spreadsheets and online documents.

In addition to the challenge being unique learning opportunity for students, it will also show them to exercise and hone their research, communication and negotiation skills in a real time situation, since they will be required to develop and execute a product positioning and marketing plan for a targeted audience in order to implement Google Apps at your campus.

In order to participate in the challenge, students, faculty and alumni are encouraged to form teams and follow the guidelines mentioned below:

Sign up for the challenge by September 15, 2008.
Get approval from the college's administration to implement Google Apps by October 15, 2008.
Work with the college IT department to implement Google Apps by December 15, 2008.
Achieve the highest level of Google Apps usage among all participating colleges by January 31, 2009 to be declared the challenge winner!

In case of any queries please visit the Got the "App"titude website or feel free to write into the team at admin@GotTheAptitude.com.

Regards,
Sai Prasad Ch
saiprasad.ch@gmail.com
http://csprasad.blogspot.com

Quotes I like :: Vol. I

2008-08-19T13:00:00.004+05:30

Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalize on what comes. - Z Ziglar
In great attempts it is glorius even to fail. - Cassius Longinus
The trouble with our times is that the future is not what it used to be. - Paul Valery
Trying to forget someone you love is trying to remember someone you never met. - Angelina Jolie
Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to him. - Aldous Huxley
I don't pray for a lighter load, but for a stronger back. - Brookes
Time ripens all things; no man is born wise. - Miguel de Cervante
A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within. - W.Durant
The best way out of a difficulty is through it. - Robert Frost
Every accomplishment begins with a decision to try. - Edward Kelly
Happiness is nothing more than good health & a bad memory. - Albert Schweitzer
Most people fail in life because they major in minor things. - Anthony Robbins
Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win. - J.Kozol
If you aspire to the highest place, it is no disgrace to reach at the second or even the third place. - Cicero
People generally quarrel because they cannot argue. - G.K.Chesterton
Millions said the apple fell but Newton was the one to ask why. - Bernard M.Baruch
Bring ideas in and entertain them royally, for one of them may be the king. - Mark Van Doren
The powers of mind are like rays of the sun dissipated. When they are concentrated, they illumine. - Swami Vivekananda
Always behave like a duck - Keep calm and unruffled on the surface but paddle with great vigor underneath. - Jacob Braude
The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress. - Joseph Joubert
At times, it is better to keep your mouth shut and let people wonder if you're fool than to open it and remove all their doubts. - James Sinclair
A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on. Ideas have endurance without death. - John F.Kennedy
Always forgive your enemies - Nothing annoys them so much. - Oscar Wilde
Success is that old ABC - ability, breaks and courage. - Charles Luckman
If you would not like to be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
A Ship is always safe at the shore - but that is NOT what it is built for. - Albert Einstein

Dojo :: A Javascript Library

2008-06-07T11:27:00.002+05:30

Been trying to look into Dojo Toolkit for a few days... The features are good and I wondered why it wasn't the No.1 ??? But, as days passed, I found a few worse things with that toolkit......

It was heavy-weight toolkit.
It loads all the JS files (summing to 700KB) even though not at all necessary...
Requires a high efficient system .. An ordinary system cannot work well Dojo ...
It takes up all the RAM of the system, hanging the system for a while....

So, I thought its better to shift to some other toolkit --- May be JQUERY is better ......
Let me try that also....

Sai Prasad

My First Earning

2008-06-03T11:19:00.000+05:30

Hi!

My first earning reached my account 3 days ago... It really feels good to have your first earning coming into your hands.... I was happy ( take it as superlative degree of joy)..... Its not a big amount ( just 14000+ bucks) but still I was happy.... No work and still you get paid... Who wouldn't love it??

I decide not to save any part from that..... And also not to spend it on anyone else.... Just ME.....
i wanna spend it all for myself....... The immediate next day, we all (Praveen, Suresh & me) rushed to B.F. (Brand Factory).... Got hands on all kind of things there ......

Its really a good thing to : SHOP AS YOU WISH & SWIPE YOUR VISA....

hehe... Time for my cup of coffee ..)

Sai Prasad.

First Month @ IBM

2008-06-02T11:12:00.002+05:30

A month passed by.... Got the stipend into bank account... But, still no hands on my project.... My mentor has been busy all these days. Even he works most of the days remote ( from home ).
So, my daily routing had been to :

Start to office at 9.10 AM
Have breakfast at the IBM Food Court by 9:55 AM
Go to my desk by 10:10 AM
Check my mails, scraps, posts etc.
Have a cup of Coffee
Lunch 12:45 PM to 1:45 PM
A coffee again at 3:00 PM
Again a sip of coffee at 4:30 PM
Back to room at 7:00 PM
Have dinner on the way.
Watch the IPL match
Late night sleep

And the day starts over again!

So boring routine right??? Hmmm... feel the same but couldn't help without any work....

-- Sai Prasad.

First Week @ Bangalore

2008-05-09T11:05:00.000+05:30

Hi !
At last, I've started to Bangalore for my Intern @ IBM, Bangalore. Couldn't get reservation on train so had to take a bus. Its really a hectic journey .. 18 hours of continuous journey in a bus ...
I reached Bangalore @ 6 am but had to wait for my friend Praveen to arrive there (hez also an intern) whoz coming by train .. The train got delayed and came at 11.45 keeping me waiting all that time ....

The first problem faced is ACCOMMODATION. We went on searching for that for two complete days and finally got settled in an house....

Coming to office part, its pretty cool.... Its different from what I expected... People are having fun there..... Got my PC (worst kind) at the end of my first week.
Waiting for my project to begin ....
Sai Prasad

Things to Remember for IBM ISL Intern

2008-04-09T22:56:00.003+05:30

Today, a senior shares his experience about experience at IBM ISL for intern last summer.. Some suggestions from him about the IBM ISL Intern I'm about to take in this summer :

Do the documentation on regular basis on par with the coding.
Also, include "Problems Faced By Me" during development in documentation
Listen to technical seminars well.... They have to form base for you final year project.
Interact with the team for seminars. Also, get contact details if possible and stay in touch with them
Have a good relationship with your technical mentor.
Don't return to college without Pre Placement Offer (PPO).

Break !! A big Break!!!

2008-04-01T21:02:00.001+05:30

had a big break for almost 2 1/2 months....
The break is from the Internet, my blog .........

Thanks atleast now to my college, for bringing back my internet connection after such a long time....

Looking forward to share more things.....

Bye for now,
Sai Prasad

Microsoft India calls for Interns

2008-01-29T17:36:00.001+05:30

Microsoft Corporation, India is calling for internships for students persuing third year engineering in B.Tech computer science or information Technology. Only students in VI semester can apply. Of course, the opportunity is off campus a.k.a. you need not worry about your institute's placement section rules. Internship is to be done between 6^th and 7^th Semester term break.Microsoft would pay you a stipend of Rs 25000 per month.
The selection process is: Aptitude test and Technical test on 17^th Feb’08 Technical interviews during subsequent weeks.

You would be tested on the below given topics during Microsoft intern selection process

Knowledge of C / C++ programming
Knowledge of Algorithms, data structures, Pointers, arrays, linked lists, recursion, Tree
Debugging of a code snippet

For more details, visit this site : http://www.merittrac.net/microsoft

I've been selected for IBM ISL Internship

2008-01-29T17:26:00.000+05:30

Hi readerz!

Therez a good news I'd like to share with you all.......
I've been selected for the internship in IBM ISL. It takes place during my summer vacation for this academic year and may last for 2 1/2 months...

And Thanks to Prasanna (http://www.prasanna.name), my senior for his support & help without which it would have been impossible for me...

Cheers
Sai Prasad

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam in Technozion '08

2008-01-28T22:02:00.000+05:30

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam visited our Campus NIT, Warangal (http://www.nitw.ac.in) on Jan 26th, 2008 on account of Technozion '08 the technical fest of NIT, Warangal. Eventhough His stay did not last for much time, that 1:30 hr stay changed alot in NIT, Warangal.

The students who have attended his addressing are all mesmerized for His excellent, inspiring and thought-provoking speech. All the brains of those students started working in the right direction following his speech. Students started studying seriously instead of playing AOE, CS and watching moivies. They all are enlightened by His words. Hope this enlightment stays longer...
The glimpses of His speech can be found here.

HIs Excellency, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam also interacted with the faculty members of the College. His topic was VISION OF NIT, WARANGAL. He also gave glimpses of INDIA VISION 2020 and the way NITW could drive its students towards that.

I'd like to quote a statement from his speech which really inspired me - "The most important part of the education is to imbibe the confidence among the students is the spirit of “we can do it”."

His Speech on 'Interaction with the Faculty of National Institute of Technology, Warangal' can be found here.
Hope to see more Kalams' in the future...

Good Day,
Sai Prasad

Technozion '08

2008-01-28T21:49:00.001+05:30

sorry guyz for keeping you waiting for almost a week time ......
The last week, it was a complete festive and a busy week for me (along with all in my college), for the wekend was Technozion '08 the Annual Technical Fest of NIT, Warangal....
The most important event for TZ '08 was the visit of the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam to our college...
This visit was the main factor to attract large masses of people towards participating in TZ'08 making it a big success......

But, coming to my point of view, TZ'08 doesn't deserve it.. The TZ website (http://www.technozion.org) couldn't be worse in any dimension. No event was upto the point of excellence and couldn't reach the expectations.

But this time, the accommodation and other facilities provided to the visitors was far better compared to the last year ....
Anyways, the TZ is finished for this year and the organization of the fest for the next year is in our batch's hand... Hope we do better .... : -)

Opening Post ... Why This Blog ???

2008-01-20T19:23:00.000+05:30

Hi readerz !!!
Previously, I used to blog on Yahoo! 360 ° at http://360.yahoo.com/saiprasad_35. But I found something was missing in it .... it was myself ... my ideaz, my views were missing the point ..... So, I deleted all posts from that blog and decided to start over again ....

Why Blogger this time?? As usual, Google © excels in its services in raw form and I felt more inclined to it....

Whats about the post in it?? They are mirror images of my thoughts, my achievements, my opinions and completely myself....

Hope you find yourself comfortable going through my blog....

Good Day,
Sai Prasad Ch